Thursday, August 31, 2006

Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.

The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.

I almost spit out my coffee reading this (hat tip to Daily Kos). I have absolutely no idea what to say.

Our government is so lame. They cannot provide their own armed services with funds to properly fight a "war" (regardless of one's opinion about Iraq, it's still a "war" as far as our soldiers are concerned), yet, they can create fucking cardboard cut-outs of our soldiers to give (no one has actually checked to see if these people were "charged" for their cardboard relatives) to families.

He’s been doing the talk show circuit since he has apologized and says that he really feels bad about reciting BushCo’s talking points on all the shows during Hurricane Katrina while people were suffering. This is what he said on Hardball:

BROWN: The lie was that we were working as a team and that everything was working smoothly. And how we could go out, and I beat myself up almost daily for allowing this to have happened, to sit there and go on television and talk about how things are working well, when you know they are not behind the scenes, is just wrong.

O‘DONNELL: So let me get this clear. Someone in the White House was telling you to lie?

BROWN: Well, yes. They give you the talking points. Whenever you go out to do any interviews they always have the talking points. Here‘s what the message for today is and here‘s how we are going to spin everything. That‘s just the way Washington, D.C. works and that‘s just wrong.

Well, you’ll see some of his work when I post the video of those performances and you be the judge. We have short memories and while we are a forgiving people at heart–his behavior back then was reprehensible. If you take him at his word then instead of telling the truth and possibly quitting–he chose to lie. And it shows how low this administration will go at trying to deceive our country in a time of crisis. This administration isn’t the only one culpable for the disaster, but it certainly was a big part of it–and they had people lie to cover their shortcomings.

This is all well and good. I read about the growing anger in America, and I hear about the growing anger in America. But, come November, will this anger actually translate into new blood up on the Hill? Will the voice of the people once again be silenced by voting irregularities and anomolies that keep the same toads in power?

It's been a year since Katrina, and tell me, just who is really being punished for the failed emergency policies? Certainly not anyone up on the Hill.

I was thinking about what to post on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Instead, I started reading what I posted back then, and I think I'm going to repost it here.

9/1/05 Karmic Payback, For Fallujah?

I am truly appalled by what I have seen over the last four days on the television and in print concerning this administration’s response to the victims of Katrina. The boys over at AMERICAblog have been all over this, so for the most part, I direct you to check out their blog for serious updates and commentary about the government’s lack of response.

I note over at DailyKos they have a piece up about Canada offering aid and support, and having planes ready. Unfortunately, our government has refused to allow them into our airspace for any aid deliveries. That’s right. Refused to allow them to assist and aid the victims of Katrina. Way to go, George. I also read that our dear friend south of us, Hugo Chavez, has offered aid, including valuable petroleum, which has, of course, been rebuffed by this administration.

Now I read that Pelosi has requested that congress convene early to help with the victims of Katrina by getting a jump start on authorizing funds. Pelosi was rebuffed by house leaders that indicated showing up for work as usual on Tuesday, September 6, after the Labor Day holiday would suffice.

I don’t know where these people’s heads are, but I am convinced it’s mostly up their butts. The lack of response by anyone in authority has gone beyond amazing. The local leaders are freaking out, and Bush stays on vacation, plays guitar, and talks about working hard and democracy on the rise in Iraq, etc., etc., etc. I cannot believe how many references were made comparing Bush to Nero fiddling while Rome burned, which is an apt analogy.

Now we have a full blown refugee crisis on American soil. Go figure. There are inadequate National Guard to assist because a great many are stationed in Iraq, of all places. There is a lack of machinery available because, many of them are located in Iraq, with their National Guard units. There’s no real money available to assist the victims of Katrina because, for one, FEMA is under Homeland Security and is no longer an autonomous entity able to use its resources immediately. Now, FEMA has to get approval, and as was noted in one of the posts on AMERICAblog, FEMA only recently got approval for spending money on a hurricane that passed through the area SEVEN FUCKING WEEKS AGO. So, if anyone is counting on immediate financial assistance, of any kind, from FEMA, they are going to have to wait. Of course, the money coming in seven weeks later from an early hurricane, most assuredly will be editorialized as current funds being immediately disbursed. Yeah, right.

I believe this will end up surpassing 9/11 in the number of deaths, and it will go down as the worst natural disaster in the United States, if not in history (probably have a plague or two that wiped out more, but I’m not in a fact checking mood this morning), at least within the last 100 years. While this administration has been scaring the shit out of ordinary Americans, making them believe that they need to send all their hard earned government money to private contractors and businesses profiteering over in Iraq, the failure to shore up our own soil against natural disasters is beyond pathetic. Making FEMA part of Homeland Security and subordinating its budget to them, reducing the federal dollars yearly to Louisiana earmarked for work in New Orleans, siphoning precious dollars from our homeland and spending it on Iraq projects that primarily line the pockets of a handful of Bush Boys, giving tax breaks in a time of "war" to Bush Boys, all of this just came to a head like a giant pimple on the face of America, located in New Orleans.

I also believe this is the beginning of the end of Bush’s love affair with what he considers his loyal supporters, mainstream America. Judging from what I have read over the past four days, America is steamed and pissed at this administration’s dragging of its feet in getting the aid ball rolling. This was a predicted category 5 hurricane, that ended up coming ashore at a category 3 rating, pretty damned bad no matter how you call it. There was not one fucking national administrative procedure in place prior to Katrina hitting Monday, to assist what would be obvious victims. And it took Bush three whole more days before he got off his ass and made it look like he gave a shit.

His ratings have been tanking. Let’s see how much America loves this president a month down the line when the extent of the death toll is realized, when the 250,000 American refugees crisis is realized, when the actual dollar amount is tallied for relief and it becomes obvious there IS NO REAL MONEY AVAILABLE for this relief, and when it finally becomes painfully obvious that we needed our National Guard troops here on American soil for such disasters, which is what they are prepared to handle in the first place.

I cannot help but feel that the New Orleans predicament is eerily similar to Falluja, which was fully destroyed, almost as if by a natural disaster, albiet, named U.S. Armed Forces. What happened is that the residents of Falluja ended up refugees on their own soil, displaced for months on end, without adequate food, water, electricity, sanitation, etc. Now we have a full blown refugee crisis on American soil, similar in scope and numbers as that in Falluja.

9/3/05 Is Our Government Forcing New Orleans Victims To Stay Put? You Betcha!

NEW ORLEANS — Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

It gets worse, as you read on. I can see the Rove handprints all over this. The smear campaign to make those people of New Orleans stuck in this quagmire out to somehow be low life murdering scum bags. With all the talk about roving armed gangs terrorizing people, there has not been one eye-witness report to confirm any of this. All reports have been "I've been told" this is happening. I even saw one reporter on TV talking on the phone to a doctor, and she asked the doctor how he felt listening to the sniper fire. The doctor started out to state how he felt about it, but then backtracked and actually stated he only heard about the sniper fire. He, himself, did not hear it. Everytime I've watched a reporter ask someone about their feelings concerning the sniper fire and armed gangs, not a one has indicated they actually saw any of this.It's a Rove thing. Crap all over the messenger, and in this case, the messenger is collectively those stranded in New Orleans. They are the noose in place over Dubya's neck. They have to portray the people we are watching on TV, not as victims, but as perpetrators of mass violence and lawlessness. It's the racist black boogey man, circa 2005 Republican correctness. And it disgusts me.Then, last night, locking the people up into the convention center, and refusing to let anyone leave the city, just blows my mind. There are check points armed by National Guardsmen, and they are turning BACK anyone that tries to individually and voluntarily leave the city! Well, I am sure if you are white, and you somehow had your SUV packed with other white people, you could get past the check point, if you know what I mean.To top it off, reading about how Homeland Security has REFUSED to allow the Red Cross to enter the city, is beyond any rational thought. Their excuse -- if the Red Cross was allowed in, and the victims allowed to have food and water, it would encourage people to come to the city and not leave. Yeah, you read that right. We've seen the Rove smear campaign effectively work, every single time. Will they be successful in making their base believe it?

Well, now the truth comes out, about the Superdome and the Convention Center in New Orleans. It seems that all those reports of roving gangs, murders and rapes of children were simply rumors. Wow, how could that be? Oh, I know, it was a town full of black people, and we all know that black people, in that type of situation, just can't control themselves.

I was sickened by all the allegations of rapes and murders and such, especially when it became obvious to THIS astute viewer that the reporters could find NO ONE to corroborate these findings from personal experience. And now, when the workers finally come in to clean up the mess at the Superdome and the Convention Center, what do they find? Six dead bodies at the Superdome, but no dead babies and no rape victims. And how many bodies at the Convention Center? Just four.

That the nation's frontline emergency-management officials believed the body count would resemble that of a bloody battle in a war is but one of scores of examples of myths about the Dome and the Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the news media and even some of the city's top officials, including the mayor and police superintendent.

No Shit, Sherlock! The media just tried like the dickens to portray New Orleans as an angry, uncontrollable black peoples mob, where every white person should fear for their lives. And they say race had nothing to do with the slow response in New Orleans. My ass.

The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees —— mass murders, rapes and beatings —— have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law-enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

Surprise, Surprise.

"I think 99 percent of it is [expletive]," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong —— bad things happened. But I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything ... 99 percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved."

EXTREMELY well-behaved for a group of American citizens to be abandoned in such a fashion by the white folks afraid of the black boogeyman.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said authorities have only confirmed four murders in the entire city in the aftermath of Katrina —— making it a typical week in a city that anticipated more than 200 homicides this year.

"I had the impression that at least 40 or 50 murders had occurred at the two sites," he said. "It's unfortunate we saw these kinds of stories saying crime had taken place on a massive scale when that wasn't the case. And they [national media outlets] have done nothing to follow up on any of these cases; they just accepted what people [on the street] told them. ... It's not consistent with the highest standards of journalism."

NOT consistent with the highest standards of journalsim. There it is, in a nutshell. There ARE NO higest standards of jounalism anymore. Just bullshit reporters who outright lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie. AND, who get away with the lies, without any retribution or any punishment. Well, unless you consider NOT watching television any sort of punishment of the establishment.

In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Compass reported rapes of "babies," and Mayor Ray Nagin spoke of "hundreds of armed gang members killing and raping people" inside the Dome. Other unidentified evacuees told of children stepping over so many bodies "we couldn't count."

The picture that emerged was one of the impoverished, overwhelmingly African-American masses of flood victims resorting to utter depravity, randomly attacking each other, as well as the police trying to protect them and the rescue workers trying to save them. The mayor told Winfrey the crowd has descended to an "almost animalistic state."

Four weeks after the storm, few of the widely reported atrocities have been backed with evidence. The piles of murdered bodies never materialized, and soldiers, police officers and rescue personnel on the front lines assert that, while anarchy reigned at times and people suffered indignities, most of the worst crimes reported at the time never happened.

But, did Oprah do anything to help clear up the misinformation? Hell no. She's about as black as Condi, but richer. So, guess whose base Oprah protected...her white ass base, that's for sure. She did zero to combat the viscious rumours, and played hostess to the perpetuation of the fucking lies.

The 400 to 500 soldiers in the Dome could have been easily overrun by increasingly agitated crowds in the Dome, but that never happened, said Col. James Knotts, a midlevel commander there. While the Convention Center saw plenty of mischief, including massive looting and isolated gunfire, and many inside cowered in fear, the hordes of evacuees for the most part did not resort to violence.

"Everything was embellished, everything was exaggerated," said Deputy Police Superintendent Warren Riley. "If one guy said he saw six bodies, then another guy the same six, and another guy saw them —— then that became 18."

Yeah, that's the truth, baby. Lies and exaggerations. Um, could it be because there were black people all holed up together in two untenable confined spaces? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Inside the Superdome, where National Guardsmen performed rigorous security checks before allowing anyone inside, only one shooting has been verified —— and even that shooting, injuring Louisiana Guardsman Chris Watt of the 527th Engineer Battalion, has been widely misreported, said Maj. David Baldwin, who led the team of soldiers who arrested the alleged assailant.

Watt had indeed been attacked inside one of the Dome's locker rooms, where he entered with another soldier. In the darkness, as they walked through about six inches of water, Watt's attacker hit him with a metal rod, a piece of a cot. But the bullet that penetrated Watt's leg came from his own gun —— he accidentally shot himself during the commotion. The attacker was sent to jail, Baldwin said.

Wow, and mainstream media reported this as ....? See, that's what I mean.

This is what got me so pissed off in the first place, and which resulted in my sabatical from blogging. This country is so fucking racist, and to watch what happened in New Orleans just sickened me to the core. And, on top of that, to watch mainstream media gloss over the race issue as if it just doesn't exist, or if it did, it was not in play with respect to New Orleans, just made me sick to my stomach.

Images of hundreds and thousands of people calmly evacuating New York city, crossing the bridges on foot, is a memory I have of 9/11. Images of hundreds of New Orleans residents attempting to leave on foot, only to be met by white men with guns, forcing them back into the city, is a memory I have of Hurrican Katrina.

And now, to complete the circle, this Administration wants to "round up the black people and put them in confined communities with trailers," which trailers, of course, will be supplied by one of the many subsidiaries of Haliburton. God forbid we actually give these displaced persons the Section 8 vouchers for real residential homes. That's not the ticket, no way! Let's keep track of them AND make money! Yeah, that's the white man's ticket. Always has been.

Anyone that thinks race did not play a role in this bad incident is just a fool, and stupid to boot.

About 1.5 percent of the $1.6 billion awarded by the Federal Emergency Management has gone to minority businesses, less than a third of the 5 percent normally required.

On Tuesday, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, R-Ill., asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether small and minority-owned businesses have been given a fair opportunity to compete for Katrina contracts.

Andrew Jenkins doesn't think so.

Once Katrina's destructive waters receded, he began making calls in hopes of a winning a government contract for his Mississippi construction company.

Jenkins, who is black, says he watched in frustration as the contracts went to others, many of them larger, white-owned companies with political ties to Washington.

"That just doesn't smell right," said Jenkins, president of AJA Management and Technical Services Inc. of Jackson, Miss., noting the region has a higher percentage of blacks and minority-owned businesses that other areas of the country.

To speed aid, many requirements normally attached to government contracting were waived by Congress and the administration. The result has been far more no-bid contracts going to businesses that have an existing relationship with thegovernment.

There also was an easing of affirmative action rules for contractors and a suspension of a "prevailing wage" law that black lawmakers and business people believe will hurt the disproportionately large number of black hourly workers in the region.

"It sends a bad message," said Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. "What they're basically saying to the minority in New Orleans is, 'We'll make it harder for you to find a job. And if you do, we'll make sure you get paid less.'"

Read more here. When are you going to wake up? BushBoy and his administration could give a shit about minorities or their small businesses. This is a government free give-away to the rich, and richer. It's all about their money. Get used to it. Or do something about it. Where are the Huey Newtons and why aren't they acting?

10/13/05 "Camp Amtrak" - Gitmo, New Orleans Style

For those that still deny the racial overtones (and undertones) associated with Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans, I bring you the latest chapter and verse. The story starts out about Robert Davis, the black man that was beat up by several white police officers in New Orleans, and which beating was caught on tape. The officers' official report claims the man was intoxicated in public, but the facts are that Robert Davis was alcohol free for more than 25 years. So, what is up with the phoney baloney arrests? Read on:

But what did not make it into the tape or national attention was that Davis is just one of more than nearly a thousand people who have suffered in a horrific place the police call "Camp Amtrak," an improvised jail in what used to be the New Orleans bus terminal.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans authorities are arresting hundreds on minor charges such as breaking curfew or public intoxication, housing them in brutal conditions and then pushing them through a court process that forces most into working on clean-up projects at police facilities, according to numerous interviews and documents obtained by TNS.

At the converted Greyhound terminal, which now serves as a different kind of way station, no passengers arrive with luggage. Instead, police bring people in and book them at what used to be a ticket counter. In the back, where travelers used to board buses, police now push detainees into wire pens where they sleep on the concrete in the open air.

In interviews both inside and outside of Camp Amtrak, people who had been through the process told harrowing accounts of police brutality and harsh conditions. Some of them, like Davis, had visible injuries. Many said police had attacked them or others in their cells with pepper spray. All recounted trying to sleep on the concrete floor of the bus parking lot with just one blanket – or in some cases no blanket – to protect them from the cold and the mosquitoes which swoop in on randomly alternating nights here. None was given a phone call or access to an attorney.

"They treat us like shit," said one inmate through the wire cage. Others chimed in. One said he had not been given a blanket the night before because there were not enough to go around. Many worried that their family members did not know where they were because they had not been allowed to contact them.

Michael Resovsky was one of several men outside the jail yesterday waiting to be picked up for a shift of what the sheriff’s department calls "community service." He recalled the night he spent inside: "They threw you a blanket and they gave you those MREs – you know, those meals in a bag – and they take the heater part out of it and the little bottle of hot sauce so you have to eat it cold. And you sleep on the concrete with a blanket, and the smell is not too nice."

"They were coming in there and macing people, and people were hollering and I couldn’t get no sleep, and you know, it was pretty bad," said Resovsky, who is white.

Anthony Jack, another former detainee, added: "It was cold[inside]; I couldn’t sleep." Jack, a black immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, said police had arrested him on his own property and charged him with violating curfew, which in most neighborhoods here is still in affect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

"I was in my yard, and a young white guy came by the gate and I was talking to him and the police came and arrested both of us," he recounted. "He was outside breaking curfew; I was inside… behind the gate. The police broke my gate down with a pick-ax. They broke it completely off the fence."

Jack continued: "It makes me really angry, man. It made me realize that the law isn’t working the way it is supposed to."

Sandy Freelander, a relief volunteer from Wisconsin, was also one of the hundreds arrested. He said that he and two friends –one a New Orleanian widely known here for having helped rescue hundreds of people in the Seventh Ward during the flooding – were detained by police in a parking lot last Thursday. He said that they were on their knees with their hands behind their heads when a police officer attacked his friend.

"This middle-aged white [police officer] got real excited about kicking Reggae, Freelander said. "He came running across the parking lot and kicked [Reggae] in the hip while [Reggae] was down on his knees with his hands behind his head. [The officer] pushed [Reggae] on the ground and put his foot to the back of his neck and pointed his gun at him and said he was going to blow his fucking brains out if he moved again. This guy was really excited about beating up the first black guy he saw or something."

Even though Freelander said the three had permission from the owner to be in the parking lot, the police arrested them on charges of criminal trespassing.

Inside, Freelander said his friend was denied medical attention and that they witnessed police pepper-spraying other detainees police handcuffing a woman to a pole and leaving here for hours and other abuse. He, like all others interviewed by TNS said he was not permitted a phone call or legal counsel, even after repeated requests.

Major Troy Poret, part of a team that runs Camp Amtrak, was unapologetic about the treatment of inmates there. He stressed that the police have been working under extraordinary conditions since Hurricane Katrina and that many of the prisoners were from out of state.

"These poor police officers are stretched out as far as they can be and yet you’ve got to mess with a bunch of gourd heads like we have down here and we have to make a jail for these kind of people," he said. "That’s what’s really bad about this whole [situation]."

Poret, like many of the people working at Camp Amtrak, used to work at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a notorious jail among prisoners’ rights activists for its cruel conditions.

Asked whether police were pepper-spraying prisoners, Poret was again unapologetic. "I have randomly had to use it," he said. "We have to use it if they are endangering other people in the pen or endangering their [own] lives.

"Look up at the setup that we have," he said. "It’s an old bus terminal. It’s keeping the bad guys off the streets from harassing the poor people of the New Orleans district from worrying about their houses being broken into or worrying about some drunk laying on their porch…"

When asked why police were denying detainees phone calls, Poret said the station did not have any phones for them to use.

"I have a fax phone and I have one local line [here] and that’s it," he said, "I have a cell phone, but I can’t afford a cell phone bill for a thousand people."

But Freelander stressed how important access to the outside world was during incarceration. "The phone call was the biggest thing," he said. "I mean, how are you supposed to even find out what your options are talking to a lawyer? They’re steamrolling the whole process without giving you any legal representation."

Freelander, Resovsky and Jack all said that in the mornings after their arrest, they were taken to a courtroom upstairs where most prisoners were pressured into pleading guilty and accepting between 40 and 80 hours of unpaid labor.

A visit to the courtroom yesterday confirmed their accounts. In a stark, second-floor room of the Greyhound station, police brought in about 20 inmates who had spent the night in the cages. When they entered the room, public defender Clyde Merritt briefly explained the options while the defendants strained to hear him. In most cases, he told them, they could plead guilty and they would be sentenced to about 40 hours of "community service." If they wished the maintain their innocence, he said, they would be sent to Hunts Correctional Facility where they could wait as long as 21 days to be processed, no matter how minor or unsupported their charges.

Many of the defendants were obviously confused. They swarmed him with questions, but he held them off, telling them that he could not give them individual advice. For that, he said, they would have to retain their own attorneys.

Off to the side, the lone female defendant stood shyly in her pajamas and flip-flops. She later told the judge she had been arrested right in front of her house.

In the end, given the choice between unpaid work and continued incarceration, nearly all chose to plead guilty.

According to documents obtained by The NewStandard, most who pass through Camp Amtrak are brought in on charges of possession of stolen property, looting or violating curfew. But the vast majority of those interviewed or observed in court this week were arrested for alleged curfew violations or public intoxication.

"The situation down there is really bad," said Don Antenen, a prisoner support activist from Cincinnati, Ohio who has been monitoring Camp Amtrak and working to secure legal support for people whose rights have been violated. "It’s not isolated from the rest of the prison system in the United States," Antenen said, "but we’re seeing all of the worst elements of the United States prison system coming all to the forefront and being very concentrated in one location."

He continued: "The police are basically arresting people for curfew violations and public intoxication and just using it as a way to get free labor to clean up the prisons and court houses and the police stations. They’re just using it as a way to get people to do their dirty work for free."

Brandon Toussaint, a black 18-year-old who spoke to TNS as he was waiting to be picked up and taken to perform a day of punishment, said he was arrested going from the downstairs of is apartment complex to another apartment upstairs. Police charged him with violating curfew and public intoxication, and Toussaint accepted forced labor rather than a transfer to Hunts, even though he said he had been wrongly arrested. He said he was worried that he would now have a criminal record, this being his first "offense."

Toussaint said he had already done a few days of work for the police, cleaning up and painting their facilities.

"If they needed someone to clean up their city, they could have just asked," he said.

This is just one example of the abusive behavior going on in New Orleans. Round up the locals on trumped up public intoxication or curfew violations, confine them to a pen with no outside legal assitance to advise them of their basic rights, and then force them to work for a few days instead of being locked up another 21 while awaiting a trial. What's so sad is that many of them, if they did wait, would probably have the case dismissed, but would have spent that time in a pitiful jail. So they choose to plead out and work a few days in the toxic environment of New Orleans.Ain't our government just grand? Mother fuckers.

I learned to sing harmony, well, listening to these guys. This version of Teach Your Children, with just the three guitars, and the almost acapella-like vocals, is great. It's easy to hear who was singing what part. A group I sang in back in the 60's would do this song, so I kind of drift to the Nash part since that's what I sang. But, I can actually sing all three of the harmonies, none of which are out of my range.

Friday, August 25, 2006

This is, after all, the United States military - the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. Can anyone doubt that they will come up with the correct plan and have the will and skill to carry it out? The only thing which could cost us victory in this War on Terrorism is our own weakness here at home - our troops are staunch, but are we?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Maynard Ferguson - Goodnight, And Farewell

Ok, so most in today's society would recognize Maynard from his Rocky theme song. My uncle first managed Maynard way way back when, and I have a few anecdotal stories when I get around to blogging them.

A key House committee issued a stinging critique of U.S. intelligence on Iran yesterday, charging that the CIA and other agencies lack "the ability to acquire essential information necessary to make judgments" on Tehran's nuclear program, its intentions or even its ties to terrorism.

The 29-page report, principally written by a Republican staff member on the House intelligence committee who holds a hard-line view on Iran, fully backs the White House position that the Islamic republic is moving forward with a nuclear weapons program and that it poses a significant danger to the United States. But it chides the intelligence community for not providing enough direct evidence to support that assertion.

I added the emphasis in the original.

My response to that is because maybe the there is no direct evidence to support that assertion, just as it was the same with no direct evidence to support the claim that Sadaam and al Qaeda had any connections to each other.

You'd think by now this administration would notice that the rest of America is not buying all their crap as of late.

Of course, let's not forget the fact that Cheney is, as usual, getting his information from a completely different source, so that when it comes time to do his Iraq, I mean Iran dance, we'll all now the score and can hum along.

UPDATE: Great discussion over at The Carpetbagger, where I came upon this funny quote by commentor Dan:

Did the neoboobs not learn the lessons of Iraq? It looks like they're still thinking war is the game Risk. "I will attack Persia with six armies from the Middle East and come'on triple sixes!"

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

I thought it was interesting that the tail end of the Hardball piece with Paul Hackett and Van Taylor (Texas) ended with Matthews asking Hackett if he's bothered he's not the candidate in the election (Ohio). Hackett was right on his toes and responded that he totally supported Brown as the candidate. Twice Mathews tried to bait him, but he stood his ground.

And this from the candidate that the Democratic party first built up, and then very nicely asked to step aside.

Monday, August 21, 2006

THE TEMPTATIONS - My Girl (Tami show 1965)

Man, does this bring back memories, circa my blog posts about dancing at the Friday night canteens at Lakewood High School. For the uninformed, we used to do routines that mimicked the danicing styles of the Temps and the Pips and the Tops.

I can STILL do this routine, damn it!

PS... I'm springing for a ten dollar Starbucks card (seriously) for the first poster that can name the group the Temps and the Supremes were first named.

At a press conference today, President Bush said, “We’re not leaving [Iraq] so long as I’m the president. That would be a huge mistake.”

Remember when they told us it would be days, probably a few months, and the "liberation" of Iraq would be over with? Remember when they told us that Iraq's oil revenues would pay for this "liberation" and not American taxpayer money? Remember when they told us as the "Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down?"

Well, they're fucking liars. And, it's not about bringing any fucking democracy to Iraq. It's the oil, and it's the damn super bases we're building. So, at this point, all Bush can do is say "nah, nah, nah nah, nah, we're NOT leaving Iraq, EVER!" It's the truth, sad to say. Unless the Democrats take over congress is some fashion. Bush doesn't even try to lie any more. He just puts it in your face that it's his "party" and he's not going to leave if he doesn't want to.

"I'm worried that my party may become what we've accused the Republicans of, a kind of litmus-test party," he said. "If you don't agree with us 100 percent of the time, you don't agree with us. I'm devoted to the Democratic Party."

A federal district court this week ruled what has been evident for some time now — that the President of the U.S. has been systematically breaking the law without any valid defense, and ruled further that his administration has been violating the constitutional rights of Americans. In response, most of the media and the "legal experts" they consult have been far more interested in pretentiously demeaning the quality of the Judge’s written opinion — as though what matters is to have law professors snidely grade the Judge’s work – than they are interested in the grave constitutional crisis our country faces as a result of a lawless presidency.

The commission awarded five failing grades, the most serious of them for Washington’s failure to allocate homeland security funds based on risk. Even after moderate tinkering with the formulas this year, greedy legislators from states that face little danger continue to siphon off funds that would be better used to protect New York, Washington and other large cities likely to hold the greatest attraction for terrorists.

Very well put. It amazes me just how blatant this administration is about screwing over the middle class and poor people. Always taking from the public dole and handing (ok, forking) over tons of money to the wealthy individuals and corporate entities, while eliminating valid service after service provided to the middle class and poor. And, now, firing the attorneys that go after rich tax cheats in order to concentrate on those that owe less than $25,000 to the government! Sheesh.

I hear there's a progressive movement afoot, although you wouldn't know it by the print and television news reporting.

P.S. Let's hope there are enough real Democrats in the Senate to put a stop to the Travelling Lieberman Show.

Friday, August 18, 2006

True, I'm only aboard the show since Ben Browder and Claudia Black came aboard. (Yeah, I was/am a huge Farscape fan.)

I've known about the show, and I've watched the movie, so it's not like I'm a newbie about the tone of the show. But, after MacGyver, I was just not that interested in another show with Richard Dean Anderson. I've liked the new additions, and the past two years, so I'm so enjoying this 200th episode!

UPDATE: That was a blast. I laughed out loud so much. I loved the Farscape take very much (grinning). The fade out with the Asimov quote before the credits was awesome.

"There are people who think that every tree should be named and hugged before being cut and then taken out with pallbearers," said Mark Rey, Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, to a regional council in Montana yesterday.

Why does the rhetoric have to always be something like the above, where it goes beyond the realm of decency? If you disagree with a particular point of view, there's no need to slander and marginalize the opposing idea through name calling of the adherent. It's never just a simple, "well, I beg to disagree with Tom, Dick and Harry." It's always, "Tom, Dick and Harry are lilly livered, scum sucking, terrorist loving, left wing, liberal mother fuckers," (or any one of many different variations on the same theme). Granted, the above is not an example of the most extreme name calling, but it's unjustified name calling just the same.

There really are no words to describe the immorality and shamelessness of all this. Here we have an Enron lobbyist and former moneyman for a Republican convicted on corruption charges now bragging to the press that he’s demanding elected Democrats ignore the results of our party’s small-d democratic election. The fact that this is even happening and not raising serious alarm bells shows just how corrupt the Beltway culture has become. The fact that some Democratic Senators (including the vice chair of the Democrats campaign operation whose mission is “to to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate”) are actually listening to this Enron lobbyist’s demands is beyond disgusting - it tells you exactly why this fight against the hostile takeover of the Democratic Party is so important. On the eve of an election to throw out the majority party on charges of corruption, a party that silently allows a faction of its own elected representatives to follow an Enron lobbyist’s demands to ignore voters is a party that undermines its chances of victory by publicly acknowledging it cares more about the wishes of Washington lobbyists than the wishes of thousands of ordinary voters.

[snip]

It is time for Democratic Senators to stop telling everyone how nice a guy they think Joe Lieberman is - he’s not a nice guy, he’s a craven, selfish, anti-democratic opportunist, and is as mortal a threat to the Democratic Party’s ability to take back Congress as George W. Bush is. It is time for Democratic Senators to stop listening to an Enron lobbyist who is demanding they ignore the will of voters. It is time, in short, for our own leaders to stop worrying about country club sensibilities, stop being so comfortable in the minority, and start getting serious about taking back political power.

It appears the sentiment against Lieberman among Senate Democrats is slowly forming. The above gives reasons for the slowness to act, and should give every Democrat pause that those elected representatives actually listened to the disgraced Enron lobbyist.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Eydie Gorme on RARE 1966 Tonight Show

I'm an unabashed Eydie Gorme fan... and Steve's (Lawrence) as well. "Blame It On The Bossa Nova" is one of my favorite Gorme songs. Although, I would disagree on the title "rare." Steve and Eydie were perennial guests on The Tonight Show.

What seems to get lost in all the recent talk about getting out of Iraq is the fact that this administration is hell bent on those massive military bases, and there's not a prayer's chance in heaven that we are pulling out of that country any time soon, no matter what the majority of this country's voters say.

The spin can go on, and on, and on. But, those in power who have something to gain with the bases, will not allow for any withdrawal. Congress can call for a withdrawal all it likes, but Rummy and Bush, Cheney and Rove, and Condi, will not allow it, and will simply ignore it. Until there's a Democrat in the White House, I doubt this administration will do anything to start bringing the troops home.

The thing is, policy differences on military strategy don't matter, since Senators do not set military strategy. If Ned Lamont is elected, and Democrats take the House and Senate, Donald Rumsfeld is still commanding our military. George Bush will be the commander in chief for two and a half more years, and the key trait necessary in a Senator is not that the Senator have a good withdrawal plan but that the Senator be willing to hold the people in charge accountable for their consistently failed conservative policies. (emphasis added)

Just more reinforced thought that congress can call for a withdrawal, but as we have seen the past 6 years, Bush and his cronies don't pay one second's attention to the will of the people, let alone anyone else.

August 12 is the 25th anniversary of the IBM personal computer launch, a pairing of MS and DOS, Microsoft and the disk operating system.

I still have my 1984 IBM XT, which looks very much like the model above. It is intact, with the original hard drive, green screen monitor and keyboard. In fact, I still have a current spare PC that has a floppy drive in it so that I can still interact and retrieve files from it. I last used the IBM in the mid-1990's, and it still has Word Perfect 5.1 on it as it was a work computer. I purchased my first personal computer using Windows in October 1996. I was so dumb back then, when someone asked me what was on my desktop, I told them my computer was not on my desk (or desktop) but on my kitchen table. To this day, that person still laughs at me when he remembers my naive response.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Let's not forget that the Liebermand/Republican talking point is that ordinary citizens do not have a right to vote, if that vote is contrary to the ruling party's dominance. From David Sirota:

Take, for instance, New York Times columnist David Brooks’s piece yesterday - it is arguably the most brazen admission of elite disdain for democracy that has ever been printed in a major American newspaper. Before you dismiss that as hyperbole, read the third line of Brooks’ piece:

“Polarized primary voters shouldn’t be allowed to define the choices in American politics.”

Yes, you read that correctly: According to one of the most prominent columnists in America, “voters shouldn’t be allowed to define the choices in American politics.” Sure, he tries to couch his statement by targeting “polarized primary voters” (because, of course, in the world of David Brooks - a chickenhawk who avoided military service himself but aggressively pushed the Iraq War - the 60 percent of Americans who are now “polarized” in opposition to the war should have their voting rights immediately revoked). But his underlying message is, again, right there in black and white: “Voters shouldn’t be allowed to define the choices in American politics.” Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first major American newspaper columnist to officially go on record publicly demanding that American democracy be substitued with dictatorship - and one undoubtedly run by a small, bodyguarded council, cloistered in a luxury Manhattan high-rise, made up of David Brooks, a few of his country-club golfing buddies and maybe - if Davey decides billionaire Tom Friedman is deserving enough - a few other select New York Times columnists.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Understand how insulting this is - Connecticut taxpayers just spent a large sum of money to hold a democratic primary election in a country founded on small-d democratic principles. An 18-year incumbent who had 100 percent name ID and a $12 million warchest (thanks to, among others, Joe’s good friends in the pharmaceutical and financial services industry) was unable to win that election. Now, instead of respecting small-d democracy or the party he has spent the last week pledging his devotion to, he’s behaving like a Third World autocrat that ignores democracy, and running to hard-core GOP voters and fundraisers in Connecticut and begging them to help him hold onto his job in the Senate club. This undemocratic chicanery from a man who has long justified his support for the Iraq War by saying he has a supposedly heartfelt devotion to spreading democracy.

Make no mistake about it - be prepared for Lieberman, the Enron lobbyists, corporate lawyers, Establishment pundits and other assorted characters in the Washington brothel to run out immediately and trumpet how incredible it was that Lieberman got so close. What they want to do is pretend that Lieberman hasn’t spent 18 years in the Senate, wasn’t have every single advantage, didn’t outspend his opponent with a massive corporate-funded warchest, and was, instead, the courageous underdog who supposedly did not arrogantly ignore mainstream public opinion with his stands pushing the Iraq War, Social Security privatization and corporate-written trade deals that sold out American jobs. That storyline provides a convenient excuse to justify Lieberman ignoring Connecticut voters, Connecticut taxpayers who funded the election, and all the democratic principles this country is supposed to be based on. It provides a consultant-packaged excuse for Lieberman to ignore voters and insult the Democratic Party by running as a party of one, and potentially throwing the general election to the Republican Party.

I'm nervous for today. I'm reading every bit of information I can on the voting in Connecticut. While the outcome affects the constituency in CT, it also impacts me, but for different reasons.

As I've mentioned on this blog now and then, I have never belonged to a political party my entire voting life. I have always voted, I've just never registered for a party. I'm not an Independent, I'm what the box says .. "Declines to state." No party. I have voted mostly for Democrats, but I have also voted for Republicans and for a Green Party and Independent candidate now and then. I voted for Ross Perot.

When GWB was installed in the White House the first time, it bothered me greatly. But, I felt, what can you do? After 9/11, however, and the Iraq build-up, I truly started to be scared. Not for my personal safety, but for the eventuality of this country. The overwhelming disinformation media shocked me into virtual silence, which I overcame by starting this blog. The serious departure from reality that had become the norm for apparently half the American population startled me, and I felt completely alone in my despair.

Blogs helped me out, a lot. It gave me a feeling that I was not really alone, but that my government was truly out of synch with others like me. More importantly, blogs put forth the real view that this country was not truly split 50/50, but that media, with a vested interest, kept that myth alive. The sterile bubble of the 2004 elections really was a turning point for me, for instead of completely dropping out, I got very mad, and began writing this blog.

The anger slowly began to turn to hope when the progressive movement started to pick up steam. I never really ever identified with political movements before, but I relate to the progressives.

I am not in favor of a two party system, but now is not the time for me to blog on that. It is becoming apparent to many that both parties are responsible for the crap we have in Washington that masquerades as representation of Americans. That corporate interests, especially those of big pharma and oil, are what drives Washington. The stealing from the taxpayers is disgusting, and finally, the virtual television set has been tuned in to the Corruption Channel. Americans are waking up to this, slowly, but surely.

Which is why the Lamont/Lieberman race is significant, to me. Lamont represents an aspect of the progressive movement. Lieberman represents the status quo. A Lamont victory signals that progressives have moved a step closer to assisting the American public in retaking its government. I'm proud to be associated with this movement. It brings me back to the hippie days of the late 1960's, when we had political rallies staged with love-ins. Blogging and relating to bloggers has that same spirit of cooperation.

When my then boyfriend and I attended the Los Angeles company's performance of A Chorus Line (in 1977, I believe), we went out to dinner at a restaurant in the newly built Universal City. My boyfriend was sporting a top hat and tails, and I had this new leotard that criss-crossed the breasts. I was in the habit of stealing coffe mugs from restaurants, and at this particular place we loved both the mugs AND the cream and sugar bowls. So, I put the two coffee mugs into the certain parts of my leotard where the boobs where, and he put the creamer and sugar bowl in his top hat, and hand carried it out. I know I entered that restaurant a 34b and came out a 34d (laughing).

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Anyone that was a fan of Ally was into this song, and all the different dance versions in the bathroom. It doesn't have to be in English for one to get it.

This was one of the better bathroom versions.

UPDATE: May 11, 2008 -- Since Google took over Blogger, and YouTube got bought out, a lot of good videos are unavailable due to "contractual" obligations, etc. I have, however, found another "bathroom" version of the song that has not been removed thus far, so enjoy!

This is what it all comes down to, folks. Washington lobbyists, Enron shills, and right-wing neoconservative ideologues in D.C. will keep showering Lieberman in cash and praise because Lieberman has served them so obediently over the years. And they are afraid that Lamont might actually be a Senator who represents ordinary people that they could not control.

Four more days to go. This has got to be the most important primary election in years. I haven't been this excited since 1972 when Babs gave a concert at the Forum for then presidential candidate, McGovern. Let's hope Lamont gives us reason to break out the champagne on a Tuesday!

"Well, I did as you advised and slipped it in his coffee and the effect was almost immediate! He jumped hisself straight up, with a twinkle in his eye, and with his pants a-bulging fiercely!With one swoop of his arm, he sent the cups and tablecloth flying, ripped me clothes to tatters and took me then and there,making wild, mad, passionate love to me on the tabletop! It was a nightmare, I tell you, an absolute nightmare!"

Nauseating, really. Words fail me. Even the perpetrators of the Qana attack, the Israeli military, has not questioned the basic facts. But excessive ideology is a vicious disease. It takes otherwise healthy minds and turns them into stinking sewers.

“Our family is devastated,” Mr. Baucus said after the Defense Department announced that Corporal Baucus, of Wolf Creek, Mont., was killed in combat on Saturday in Anbar province. Three other marines from his battalion were also killed there Saturday, according to the department.

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission, hoping to hide the bungled response to the hijackings, these sources said.

[snip]

For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances. Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington.

In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft -- American Airlines Flight 11 -- long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.

[snip]

John F. Lehman, a Republican commission member and former Navy secretary, said in a recent interview that he believed the panel may have been lied to but that he did not believe the evidence was sufficient to support a criminal referral.

"My view of that was that whether it was willful or just the fog of stupid bureaucracy, I don't know," Lehman said. "But in the order of magnitude of things, going after bureaucrats because they misled the commission didn't seem to make sense to me."

This is amazing news. Back then, only Randi Rhodes was touting the NORAD lies, and she was dismissed as a left wing lunatic!

It's always the same thing, don't you know. Of course you were lied to, but it's NOT CRIMINAL! Of course the president and his cabinet lied to Congress and the American people about the run up to the Iraq war, but it's NOT CRIMINAL! This is the mantra of the Republicans. Of course they bullshitted, and lied, and cheated, and stole, but hey, IT'S NOT CRIMINAL!

It is totally and absolutely disgusting that this is our goverment ... my government. Lies, lies and more lies. They lie about everything, whether it matters or not, and back during the actual 9/11 happenings, the public, the press and the administration all let the lies stand.